


A Friend in Need

by CygnetSwan



Series: Princeling [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Age Play, David's like 23 or 24, F/F, F/M, Gen, Infantilism, Little David Nolan, Little Prince Charming, Littles physically shrink when they're little, M/M, Multi, Non-Sexual Age Play, Polyamory, Snow is 37 or 38, They're all happily married together, age play little David Nolan, also they're accepted in this verse, and Killian is several centuries old, little verse, snow is about 28, united realms exist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 12:16:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19723513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CygnetSwan/pseuds/CygnetSwan
Summary: When David overhears his spouses complaining they're exhausted, in part because of him being impossible to put to sleep, David decides he no longer needs to be a little, for the sake of everyone. So decides to stop. But this is just the start of his problems.





	A Friend in Need

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first little fic lemme know any prompts you have for little David!

“David.” Killian was struggling to keep his teeth ungritted and his tone calm and even. “You have your teddy and blankie, you’ve had milk, you have water in your sippy on your bedside table, your night lights on, and you’ve had cuddles and stories, now it’s time for you to sleep and for me to go and do some work downstairs.”

They were in one of the spare rooms of the loft, which Regina had improved and expanded with her magic, but David’s little bedroom had been done up by them all together, David chose the theme, and they had worked together, painting, decorating, and putting together furniture which had been bought from the specialist little store in Hyperion Heights. 

“I’m not sleepy.” He whined trying to sit up.

Killian gently put his hand on his shoulder, stopping him from doing so. “Come on, bub, you’ve not slept properly for months, not here, not at your other mommy’s home, not at Auntie Belle’s and Uncle Liam’s with your brother there.” He watched David frown and open his mouth, he shook his head to stop him from arguing. “You’re tired, I’m tired, we are all tired, so you’re going to lie down, you’re going to close your eyes, and you’re going to let yourself fall asleep.”

David’s bottom lip jutted out but he could hear the warning in Killian’s voice so he didn’t complain or try to get out of his bed. 

“Close your eyes.” Killian whispered firmly yet lovingly. 

David, for what seemed like the first time that month, did as he was told. 

“Night Davey, get lots of sleep, okay Sunshine.”

“Night Daddy.” David’s voice came out small and soft. 

He felt Killian stand from where he was sat on his bed, he heard him take some steps as gently as possible as he left the room, the door was open just enough to leave a stream of light laying across the floor. 

David opened his eyes, looking at his room in the near darkness, the furniture was all throwing weird shapes onto the ceiling and the walls, he coward a little, trying to convince himself that the shapes weren’t monsters, the stars of his nightly were projected onto the shapes he was looking at, the shadows temporarily faded. 

He waited approximately ten minutes after Killian left his room before he decided that he wouldn’t be able to get any sleep. 

This was the same as he had done every night, it had made him irritable, whiny, and deeper into his little head space, all of which made him act out and make less than stellar decisions- such as the fact that when he had been put to bed early for the past three weeks due to his inability to sleep, Regina had caught him playing with his toys in his room instead of sleeping, so they had been taken out, a week after that he had taken to sneaking his Nintendo DS into his room to play on instead, it had taken them until last night to realise that he had it. 

So now he didn’t even have those to play with. He sat up and made a plan to go back downstairs, he’d convince Killian, Regina, and Snow that he wasn’t tired, then he’d convince them that they should watch some superhero or animated movie instead of them all doing their work, and he could put off sleep for a little while longer.

  
  


* * *

He walked down the hallway, but when he reached the top of the stairs he didn’t see them doing what he expected them to be doing, Snow wasn’t marking school books, Regina wasn’t looking over minutes from her last meetings in preparation for her next meeting, and Killian wasn’t looking over police rosters or plans for their naval operations - they were all sat together at the kitchen table with drinks, their shoulders were hunched over, they were clearly exhausted. 

He stayed at the top of the stairs, he didn’t walk down the stairs, but he also didn’t go back to his room. His thumb slipped into his mouth as he watched Killian pouring them all another glass of wine. 

“If he’d just get some sleep he might actually start to behave a bit better.” 

“Well short of straight up drugging him, Snow, I’m not sure how we’re going to be able to do that.” 

“If he wasn’t little he might stop being so stubborn and he’d sleep.” Killian sighed loudly. “It would help stop him having a tantrum an hour.” 

Regina and Snow nodded their heads in agreement. “At least he’s saying at his mom’s tomorrow, maybe she can get him to sleep and to maybe behave a bit better.”

He stayed for a little longer, but they weren’t saying much after that, they had already said enough, and it was something which if he had been bigger he would have known already, but it had taken hearing them saying it for him to realise, rightly or wrongly, that he was too much, he had completely exhausted them, he had exhausted his spouses, he had exhausted his mom too, Mal and her girlfriend had tried not to show it but he realised that now. He dragged himself back to bed, he held his teddy bear as close and kept his thumb in his mouth and he tried his best to fall asleep, for this day to be over... 

* * *

He managed to sleep a few hours, and as he woke to the sounds of birds he came to a way to fix all of it. He would force himself to grow up, to stop ever being little again, he would change something so fundamental about him if it would make everything okay again. 

  
  


* * *

Killian was normally the first person in their household to wake up, after centuries as a captain on a ship, even now when he wasn’t at sea he was up early. 

But when he sleepily walked down the stairs into the kitchn he found that he was beaten by someone else that morning. 

Oh god, if David was up now that meant that they were probably going to have a very long day he walked past the stool he was sat on and ran his hand through his hair. “Mornin’ sunshine.” 

“Hey Kil.”

Killian paused before the coffee pot, blinking a couple of times, the coffee pot was full ready for him and Regina’s morning coffee, the coffee machine was on from David making his own sugary coffee. Killian turned and took him in: he was dressed in a plain sweatshirt and jeans, his blond hair was carefully styled but that hadn’t stopped some of the curls from forming at the ends, he must have styled it in the humid bathroom after a shower, there was a mostly empty coffee mug in front of him, and a book, one of the science fiction books which only David, out of the lot of them, had shown an interest in. 

Killian quirked his brow, he remembered the start of their relationship, when David was not used to being allowed to show his younger little self, he would switch back so quickly it gave them all whiplash. But that hadn’t happened in years, especially when David had been little for so long, normally it took him a little while to become big again normally very slowly in fact. 

“Hi.” His voice was full of surprise and his tone was a little disjointed. 

“You already said that, Kil.” David smirk. He forced his face to remain cocky, to not give away how he really felt: that he really just wanted to run up to him and cling on and, and, be little… but he couldn’t, not anymore, never again.

“I actually said good morning, smartarse.” Killian quipped back.  
He turned his back on David to finally pour himself a mug full of coffee as he assessed what to say next to his husband. He thought about what to say to David next, he couldn’t ask him why he wasn’t little he knew from experience that wouldn’t work out well it would definitely upset him and make him feel like perhaps he didn’t want him for all of him, which Killian would never want to do.  
“You been up long? Breakfast?” He asked and offered with ease. 

“Sure, I could eat.”  
He hadn’t thought about it really and he didn’t feel that hungry, but adults, full constant adults that is, cared about having breakfast, something about it being the ‘most important meal of the day’ which David knew was bullshit because there wasn’t even dessert so how important could it be?  
He watched Killian grab things from the fridge, some eggs from the countertop, and a loaf from the breadbin. Killian always made a full english breakfast when he cooked, minus a few things which the rest of them found gross, watching him brought a small yet genuine smile to David’s face. He realised that Killian was waiting for an answer.  
“I, erm, maybe half an hour?” He guessed looking at the clock to pretend to figure it out. His hand automatically drifted towards his head, he was so anxious that his leg was bouncing (nearly constantly) on the stool. He quickly diverted before he could put his thumb into his mouth, luckily Killian wasn’t watching, he scrubbed the back of his head with his hand. “I guess I just needed some sleep.” 

Killian added the items to the frying pan, there was a gentle sizzling in the background as he turned to face David, he didn’t hide an ounce of his concern on his face. “Are you feeling better now? When you were little you were really up-” 

“-Yeah sorry about that.” David interrupted brushing off Killian’s worry and concern. “I’m fine, I just needed some sleep, and I was, I need to deal with some, some stuff.” 

Killian leant back against the counter, his brows furrowed, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared across the counter at his husband. “What did you need to deal with? You know you can tell me anything, or Snow and Regina, or James, or Mal… you don’t have to deal with things alone. Just- just tell me what’s wrong?”  
He knew he had a similar conversation with David so many years ago in The Enchanted Forest. He hated that it felt like they were just regressing so much. He couldn’t let that happen. 

“Killian I will, I promise, I’m not hiding things or dealing with it on my own, I just… I need to talk with Archie about a couple of things but I’ll talk to you all by tonight, I have a session with him later. I swear, Kil, I’m okay.” 

Killian was not happy about it, at all, and it showed, yet he still nodded his head, slowly, as he gave a small sigh. “Okay… as long as you promise to be honest with us. I just,” he sighed again, “I worry about you, each and every part of you.” 

David gave him a small smile and flicked the radio on, humming to old songs as he gathered cutlery and toasted bread, talking idly with Killian about a few things. 

When his wives came down David chatted to them too, after they had silent conversations with Killian about not to talk about him suddenly switching, the four of them looked perfectly happy as they ate their breakfast and talked about their days.But looks were deceiving.

“David, why don’t you walk with me, it’s a nice day, and my office is near Archie’s?” Regina suggested, her tone made it clear that she meant it to be more than a suggestion.

“Sorry, I promised James I’d meet with him before it, grab a coffee or something.”

“That’s on the way to my school.” Snow smiled. “I’ll walk you.” 

“I could walk you both.” Regina suggested.

Killian paused with his mug of coffee halfway to his mouth. He could tell, already, that Regina and Snow were pushing it. Not normally, but this wasn’t the normal David, this was the same David who had taken over a year to show them his little side and to stop giving them whiplash by letting them in then suddenly shutting them out.

David smiled breezily. “Nah, it’s alright. I’ve gotta get going I said I’d meet him about now. I’m already late, and you guys don’t have to be at your works for a while. I’ll see you later.” He shot up from the table grabbing his keys from the side table next to the door. He threw a small wave over his shoulder as he left sharpish. 

* * *

“What the hell happened?” 

“I didn’t do anything!”

“She didn’t say you did.” Snow squeezed Killian’s hand, ever the mediator. “She’s just surprised that he’s acting like this, we all. Was he like this when you woke up or…?”

“Yeah.” Killian let out in a sigh. He watched his wives share a look about their husband’s reaction. “I know… It’s just like before, when he was younger, when we first got together with him, I thought we were over this bloody whiplash, I thought he had… I don’t know, matured? Not like age but like... “

“We know what you mean.” Regina softened. 

“He promised to talk to us about whatever it is that he’s working through.” 

“Do you think he will?” 

“Normally? Yeah… Today?” 

“I’m going to meet him from therapy.” Regina said firmly, she wasn’t going to let them discourage her from it, she was his spouse and caregiver just as much as they were. 

“Don’t push him too hard.” 

Regina was surprised that it wasn’t Killian who spoke but Snow. “It worked last time.” 

Snow nodded appreciatively. “Yes. But last time he had no money or assets, he had George’s entire kingdom after him, and Ruth was the only mother he knew and she was dead, not to mention he had only known abuse his entire life. Here he has money, his truck, he’s been in therapy about the abuse he suffered, if he wanted to run away inside of the United Realms he knows enough people to. And that’s only if he decided to stay here. He could go anywhere in the wider world.”

Regina sighed gently. “I guess you’re right.” She let out a sardonic laugh. “Last night, after his last tantrum of the night, I wished that he woke up feeling big, not for me or even for us, but because then he might actually allow himself to rest for longer than five minutes. Now I think I’d take an entire morning of tantrums over this. It can’t be good for him.” 

Killian took hold of Regina’s hand and brought it to his mouth, kissing it, then doing the same to Snow’s hand. “We’ll talk to him. He’ll be okay, eventually, even if we have to knock sense into his thick skull ourselves.”

  
  


* * *

David wished he hadn’t left the loft quite so quickly. His therapy session with Archie wasn’t for quite a while, he had planned on getting his story straight, and trying to force himself fully into an adult mindset. 

He had grabbed his car keys when he had left the loft but he hadn’t taken it, instead he had decided to walk and clear his head. He shoved his earbuds into his ear, ducking his head as he passed one of the many Little stores in the United Realms. “Don’t fuckin’ think about it.” He growled quietly at himself. He was keeping his head down and was reminding himself to stay big so intently that he was distracted, he bumped into someone, whoever it was managed to stay upright, but David went flying backwards.

“David!”

“Shit.” David groaned. He pushed himself to his feet, he wiped some small stones from his hands, but he could tell that he was bleeding from his legs as well as the palms of his hands. He looked up at the person who sent him flying, he realised that it was Archie, holding his dog’s leash in his hand, when David was little in his therapy sessions he would pet Pongo, it took all he had to not focus on the animal, instead he gave a small slightly grimacing smile to the therapist. “Archie, hey, you been working out?” 

“Wha-? Oh, oh,” It took him a moment to realise that David was in his big mindset, that he was alone, and that he was making a joke. “Good joke. You’re a bit early.” 

David glanced at the building Archie had tipped his head towards, it was the office which Archie used for seeing residents of Storybrooke, and for Littles. Fuck, why had he not even realised he was walking this way?  
He looked back at Archie with a smile he had cultivated to withstand any stupidity or foolish decisions, he had gotten rather good at that smile.  
“I guess I lost track of time, I thought it was later. I’ll come back later.”

“It’s okay.” Archie said quickly. “I have a free morning, you’re my first appointment. Why don’t you come upstairs, it’s hot out already, I think I have some iced tea in the minifridge?”

David hesitated for a second, then shrugged, he supposed that he was going to have to get it over and done with, and he doubted that even with extra time he’d manage to find the right lie to tell. “Sure, that sounds good.” 

  
  


* * *

Soon David was settled on the psychologist’s couch. Pongo had insisted on being petted by David, but must have realised that David wasn’t the Little David he prefered, so was now stretched out on the floor near the A/C.

“Thanks.” David took the glass of iced tea when he was offered it, taking a small sip, it was pretty good, David had a feeling that Ruby had made it but wasn’t in the mood to prod Archie for details.

“How are your spouses?” 

“They’re fine. Snows chaperoning a field trip this weekend and Regina’s got a meeting discussing something about rights for Littles.” 

“She spoke to me about that, your wife’s a courageous woman, both of them are.” He watched David nod, he wasn’t keeping eye contact with him, in fact Archie could swear that David was itching to leave. “How about Mal and er, her girlfriend?”

“They’re good. She’s been teaching me and James some sign language.” 

“I spoke with Snow yesterday, she said you were having a bit of a hard time, with sleep and other things?” 

Ah. They had started then. “It’s complicated.” He couldn’t come and say it outright. He had to pretend it was being pried out of him. 

“David that’s why you have me, to talk about things which are complex, to learn how to work on them, and how to feel comfortable talking about them with me and others.” 

David picked at a fray on a cushion. This bit wasn’t fake, it was hard to allow the lie to come out of him, he was already exhausted from fighting himself, he was managing to keep himself big both mentally and physically, but it was hard. 

“I kinda pushed myself too deep into a Little headspace.” 

“And why did you do that?” 

Archie’s voice was kind and nonjudgmental. David felt bad about lying to him. “Because I was trying to remind myself of why I was still a Little … I don’t think I can do it anymore, I don’t think I am, that I want to, need to be, little.”

Archie paused for a minute. He hadn’t expected that. “Have you talked to anyone else about this?” 

“I don’t know how to tell them.”

“You don’t think they’ll accept you?”

“.... I think it’ll be hard for them. It’s all my mom, Mal, has ever known me to be, same with her girlfriend. It’s one of the few connections James and I share. And it’s always been a part of my life with my, with Killian, Snow, and Gina.” 

“Hard for them but not impossible?” 

David sighed. “They’d accept it. It would be really hard for them, and probably have some awkwards moments when they forget, but it wouldn’t be impossible.”

“Hmm.” Archie jotted something down in his notepad. “How long have you been thinking about this?” 

Shit. How long seemed acceptable?  
“About a year, I thought maybe I was just, I don’t know, it just wasn’t working properly even when I tried.”

“You shrunk every time though.”

“It’s easy enough to trick.” That was the truth, he was looking like a full grown man right now, wasn’t he, instead of being super short and young looking. 

Archie wrote a couple more things down. “You’ve really thought this through?” 

“Yeah. I just...” He trailed off. “I don’t want to hurt the people I love.” He struggled to stop his voice from breaking. It was true. It was the reason why all this would be worth it. 

Archie put his pad down. He placed his hand on David’s knee. “David, you won’t hurt the people you love, they will understand and love you as long as you’re being true to yourself. Okay?”

David swallowed, or tried to, there seemed to be a lump in his throat he couldn’t get rid of. “Y-Yeah.”

“Most Littles I see have the opposite problem, for them it’s hard to come out to their loved ones, but I think those strategies will work for you too. You need to sit down with your loved ones, tell them how you’ve been feeling, for how long you’ve been feeling it, you have to be honest and clear about what you want. Do you feel comfortable doing that?” 

No. No, no, no, no, no. What he did want to do is go back to the loft where he knew Killian would be, he’d cling onto him, and get him to watch disney movies on repeat with him, David would even take a nap, and he could draw pictures for Snow and Regina for when they got home, an apology which would work until the next time David made them exhausted. He could call them Daddy, and Mommy, and Mama, as he had since he had met them.  
“Y-Yeah. Yes. I feel comfortable enough. I’ll talk to them tonight.”

“Okay. We can keep talking about this or we can talk about your past, if you like, the choice is yours.”

“Sure, I’ve not been able to blame my dad for everything wrong in my life for about a week.” He chuckled. 

  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  


Over the next couple of weeks David was notably distant from everyone. The night after therapy he had spoken to his spouses, he must have looked rather convincing because they believed him, though David could have sworn that they looked sad when he told them. 

He had tried to act as normal as possible. But it changed his family’s entire dynamics, and he felt as though he was only half of a person. He had told James the truth, out of everyone he figured that his twin would be the person to understand. And he had, he wasn’t happy that David was denying part of himself, but he understood not wanting to be too much. 

Snow, Regina, and Killian had all noticed David acting… different. Like he was shutting himself off, but for all they knew this was who he was when he wasn’t Little. They were trying their best, despite having lost something too, but every so often David would disappear. They’d ring around, if he was missing for too long, if he went somewhere and missed something they had planned or said they’d do, often if they got James on the phone he’d claim David was with him, but if they talked to Belle or Liam later they would say that they hadn’t seen him. Still, they tried to give him space and understanding. Surely he’d tell them if something was actually wrong… right?

  
  
  
  
  
  


Regina came home to see Killian and Snow cooking in the kitchen together. “This is a nice sight to come home to.” 

“I agree.” Snow smirked while Killian chuckled. 

“Snow’s only doing the dessert because she ate most of the other one.” 

“Ah, that makes more sense.” Regina rolled up her sleeves, washed her hands, and grabbed a knife to start making a salad. 

“So, where’s Davey- David?” Killian asked as they all carried the dinner to the table. It was hard not referring to his as Davey, but in the past few weeks David had pointed out how much he disliked it. 

Regina didn’t answer straight away, not until all the food was on the table, and they were all sat down. “Wait, me? How would I know?” 

Snow shared a look with Killian. “He texted me earlier saying he was with you Gina, that he isn’t home yet because he would come home with you?” 

“I haven’t seen him since breakfast.” 

They stayed sat there for a minute. Snow sent David a text. She watched it change from delivered to read. 

Regina picked up the phone, she dialed David’s number. She heard the click as he picked up the phone. Then it clicked right back off again. Her mouth fell open. “He just hung up on me!” 

There was silence for a little while. The clock ticked. 

Then there was movement once again. Killian stood up, his chair scraped against the wooden floor, he threw the napkin he was holding down onto the table. “This is enough. I’m going to go get him.” 

“We said we’d give him space.” Regina said weakly. She didn’t move to stop him grabbing his car keys. Neither did Snow, she realised. 

“We’ve done that. It isn’t helping, is it? He’s been acting weird and different and exactly how he acted in the Enchanted Forest when he would try and push us away. We didn’t let him do it then, so why are we now?” 

“He said he didn’t want to be Little anymore.” Regina pointed out again. 

“You believe him about that?” Snow challenged. 

“Even if he doesn’t want to be he can’t be acting like this!” Killian shrugged on his big coat. “I’ll find him and find out what the hell’s going on. Even if I have to fucking drag him back here kicking and screaming.” The door slammed behind him as he left.

“I’m going to ring James, we knew he was lying about him and David spending their time together, I’m going to get the truth from him.”

“I’m going to go visit Mal then. He’s been saying he’s been visiting her… but who knows.” She finally looked at Snow’s face. “Hey, we’ll find him.”

“And then what? If he was still Little we could give him a time out, or not give him stickers on a sticker chart, we could- but now we can’t.” She had started to trail off but had recovered reinvigorated.

“We’ll figure it out.”

“..... I know this sounds stupid but… Do you really believe that David isn’t Little anymore?”

Regina paused. “I guess I haven’t really put that much thought into it. If he was, why would he claim not to be anymore?” 

Snow shrugged. “Maybe he’s scared of something. Killian talking about back in the Enchanted Forest reminded me of… do you remember when Killian was on that mission, maybe six, seven, months after we saved David from George’s prison? David had been getting used to being little around all of us, and with being with all of us, and it was the first time Killian was going away to work. David kept disappearing, pushing himself away from us, hiding. He thought he had scared Killian off, like he had thought he had scared off Robert when he was a kid.”

Regina considered it for a minute. “What could he be scared of this time though?”

Snow slowly shook her head. “I have no idea.” 

  
  


* * *

David had found himself in The Rabbit Hole. He didn’t feel like hanging out with James, who had been trying to get David to talk to his spouses, and he didn’t want to be bugged or mindered by Ruby or Granny. Plus he needed to try and stop feeling like he wanted to curl up in his Little bedroom with his teddy. Surely alcohol would help, well it probably wouldn’t but since his entire family (both birth and adoptive) had self-destructive tendencies, he may as well join them. 

He had just ordered a beer, one of the few things he actually knew the name of, and sat there nursing it. The Rabbit Hole was probably the sleaziest bar in the entire Unit Realms, it was full of assholes and lowlives, but it was cheap and no one asked questions. 

“Where the hell do you think you’re going woman?” 

The sneering voice wasn’t that loud, not compared the throng of the crowded bar, but the tone… that threw David back twenty years, to being a young boy in his parents' cabin. David wanted to run, to run back home, to hide. But he was never able to save Ruth from Robert’s rage. He stood up and walked over to the man who was dragging a woman behind him. 

“-Hey. Hey!” He shouted. “Leave her alone.” 

The man looked at him and laughed. He grabbed a drink from the table next to him, and poured the entire pint over David’s head. 

David felt his hands and his legs shake. He really wanted to run and to cry, and to be absolutely anywhere except where he was right at that moment. “Leave her alone.” 

“Oh yeah? She’s my girl, why the hell should I?” 

David’s eyes flickered over to the woman who was trying to loosen her wrist from his hold. She had scars on her arms, and bruises, it wasn’t hard to guess where they came from. “She doesn’t belong to you. A-And you don’t get to treat her like shit just cause you’re worried you have a tiny dick.” 

The man let go of his girlfriend. Instead he grabbed David by his arm and his throat and shoved him into the wall. He let out a low laugh, one which made it very clear that he didn’t find David’s words funny, but that he was amused by the fact he was about to get to beat someone new up. “I think it’s time I taught you some manners your daddy clearly didn’t.” 

David thought for a second that he meant Killian, but quickly realised he just meant it as a turn of phrase, and then the first punch came. He felt the force of the impact hitting his face, then the pain, his head being forced back into the wall, the pain from that too. He tasted iron in his mouth, he feebly spat blood out, onto the face of the man who punched him hard in the stomach. He doubled over, but he was quickly grabbed by the throat again, he gasped for air. He was assaulted again and again, he felt his body bleed and swell, and as he gasped for air, he couldn’t help but wish that absolutely any of his loved ones were there. 

His head was smashed back against the wall, as his eyes closed he saw the woman run out the door, at least he managed to save her, even if he signed his own death warrant.

  
  


* * *

Killian wasn’t sure if it was his blood boiling or his nerves growing as he drove around. There was absolutely no sign of his husband. He had checked parks, Granny’s, he even told Ruby what had happened, she promised to look for him, try and track him, but with David being the son of a dragon it was hard sometimes to catch his scent. 

He needed to find him. His mind started to wonder if something bad had happened to him, or if he had left Storybrooke, perhaps he had travelled to another part of the country which was the United Realms, maybe he went to stay in one of their friends’ castles, in the Enchanted Forest or somewhere similar. 

He was about to go back to the loft and regroup to found a search party when he saw flashing lights at The Rabbit Hole. He turned into the bar, leaving the keys in the car he ducked into the building, there were cops swarming it, arresting people for what he assumed were petty crimes. But there was no sign of David, not that David would come to a place like this, and he certainly wouldn’t be involved in anything like whatever was going on.

“Killian!” 

Killian looked and saw Fredrick stood there, dressed in his police uniform, he gave a sigh of relief at seeing Killian which the captain didn’t understand. “Fred, hey look I don’t know what’s going on here, I was just looking to see if Dave was here.” He started to leave when the cop grabbed him by the arm.

“Yeah I figured. Your boy’s at the hospital, we sent him there maybe a half hour ago.”

“What?!” 

“Apparently he was trying to save a lady. He got pretty beat up in the process. He was looking pretty rough though the barkeep said he was looking pretty tired and out of it beforehand.”

Killian felt his world spin. “Shit. Shit, I knew, we thought… Fuck. I gotta get there, I need to talk to him, I need to…”

“Yeah, Killian it’s alright. It’s okay, I’ll give you a police escort, I know that me and Abi would be out of our minds if something like this happened to our Little. I’m sure David will be okay.

Killian nodded his head but didn’t take in a single word after being offered the police escort. 

  
  
  
  


* * *

David groaned as he opened his eyes. His head was pounding, and fuzzy, the whole of him was fuzzy. And… slow? He moved his arm intending to rub his eyes but something stopped his arm from moving. 

“You have to keep still.” A kind looking nurse smiled down at him, moving his arm back to where it had been. “That’s giving you some medicine, I heard that someone used you like a piñata, this should help you.“

“I don’t, I don’t like medicine, I don’t need it.”

“Uh huh. Well, it’s medicine now, or medicine and staying in hospital overnight.” 

David frowned looking around. He realised, judging by the decoration of the room he was in he was on one of the Littles only wards in the hospital of Hyperion Heights. “I must look like shit if I was brought here.” 

The nursed laughed. “I must admit you do. The medicine should help you though. So, you wanting to stay here overnight or are you going to take your medicine?” 

“Dr King?”  
He was top of his field specialising looking after Littles, he had been friends with Killian for centuries on the Jolly Roger, before David knew him, even before Killian knew Snow and Regina. And David absolutely hated him. He was demeaning and patronising, not that David would ever tell Killian that, he didn’t want Killian to lose a friend. 

“He’ll be here in the morning. Why, do you know him?” 

David started to nod his head but felt it swirl. He grimaced. “I’ll take the medicine.”

“Good.” Now, you stay here and still, the medicine should start making you feel better. Do you want some cartoons on?” 

“No. No thanks, I mean. Once the medicine’s gone I can go, right?” 

“If you’re well enough to. Your,” she glanced down at the file in her hand, “your spouses have been contacted. You’ll be discharged into their care.” 

“I’m not a Little.” He blurted out. She didn’t look convinced but she also didn’t argue with him. 

“It’s standard procedure for head injuries.” She turned on the tv to the cartoons before she left. 

David didn’t try to turn them off. 

  
  


* * *

The police escort had helped Killian get into the hospital pretty quickly. No one at the front desk bothered to ask for ID to confirm they should give him David’s room number, which Killian supposed he should worry about but not at the moment, 

He took the stairs three at a time as he raced up two stories. Before long he was on the Little ward, flinging open the door to David’s room. He stilled in the doorway. David looked like he had been hit by several trucks. His face was all busted up, his lip was still bleeding a little. And there was a cut on his head which had been stitched. He took a couple of steps forward and gasped when he saw the deep blue bruise on David’s neck. He had been choked. 

“Kil.” David’s voice came out softer and weaker than he had wanted it to. He swallowed but his throat felt dry.

Killian let out a sigh and lurched forward. He pulled David into a hug, putting all his worries and fears from the past few weeks into it, his hand cradled the back of David’s head. “Bub, I’m so sorry. I’m going to kill them.” 

“D-Don’t, stay. Please.” 

Killian frowned. When he was a pirate he did a lot of things, he had hurt people, but he hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone more than right now. But the fear was clear in David’s words. “Okay. Okay I’m going to stay with you. I’m not leaving.” He rocked his slightly and he felt David snuggle closer. He sat on the bed keeping David held close. 

There was a puff of lilac and Snow and Regina appeared stood there.

“David!” They both cried.

Killian found himself being pushed aside as Regina and Snow pulled David from his hold and into theirs, he couldn’t help but smile watching them smother him with kisses and cuddles. He let them have some time hogging David, he moved to speak with the doctor instead. 

David was finally let out of the hug when Killian came back over. It was taking all David had to stay big at the sight of Killian. He had his serious ‘daddy Killian’ face on, and his arms crossed over his chest, he stared down at David. David watched as Regina and Snow did the same.  
“Did the, er, did the doctor say when I can get outta here.” 

“He did.” Killian stared at David daring him to move out of the bed. “Once you’ve finished the medicine in your IV. But you’re not out of here when he says so.” 

“What?” 

“It’s up to us. You’ve been avoiding us like a plague for the past few weeks. You’ve not been yourself at all. Starting when you decided you were no longer little. So you’re going to talk honestly to us.” 

“Or you’ll hold me hostage in a hospital?! You’re crazy they wouldn’t do that!” 

“They would” Snow said quietly, “they would rather keep you in, they’re only letting you go because of us.” 

“So start talking.” Regina added. 

David sank down in the bed a little. He sighed. There was no escaping this. “I… I couldn’t be a Little anymore.” 

“Why not?” Snow frowned. She felt Regia squeeze her hand, when she looked at her wife she watched her mouth ‘give him a minute’. Her frown deepened, she was an impatient person, but she would try her best not to interrupt.

“I was… It was just that, I don’t… I don’t know how to explain it.” 

Killian’s stare softened a little. “Then tell us what happened that made you decide.” 

“I just… I wanted to watch a movie with you guys, so I got out of bed, I couldn’t sleep, I tried I swear.” 

“When you were having difficulty sleeping, when you were Little?” Regina felt Snow giving her a look pointing out she was being a little hypocritical but she knew Snow didn’t take offence.

“Y-Yeah. So I went to the stairs and you were all there drinking. You were all exhausted. I was being too much, you wanted my mom, Mal, to fix me, get me to sleep, and I was trying to sleep but it wasn’t working, I tried, but I… I know it was too much.” 

“Hey.” Killian hushed. “Dave, you weren’t too much, you’re never too much-” 

“I was.” He ignored the frowns and the fact that they were all about to interrupt him, he raised his voice a little in order to stay in charge. “I couldn’t do that to you guys, to my mom, to uncle- to Liam and Belle, they have enough to deal with ‘cause of James. I… I sorta lied to Archie to get him to believe that I just couldn’t, didn’t need to, to be Little anymore. He told me to talk to you guys so I did… I tried to be normal. Whenever I felt like I was gonna be little I would go somewhere, walk around the woods, or go to a bar, to try and stop myself. I went to the bar today I was- shit I missed dinner, I meant to-” 

“It’s okay.” Snow soothed. “We’ll redo it another time, and we’ll grab something on the way home.” 

“...Okay. I went to the bar and there was this, this asshole. He grabbed his girlfriend and he said, he was like my dad- not my dad but Robert. He hurt her. I didn’t want him to, I needed to protect her. So I tried, but he kinda beat me, at the fight and literally. I came to and I was here. That’s everything I swear.” 

They all slowly nodded but they were focused on David. 

“David.” Snow cupped his face with her hands. “We love every part of you both big and Little. You said you tried to be normal but there’s no such thing. And you are extraordinary, why would we want you to be any less than that?” 

“You should have talked to us, honestly, about all of this.” Regina gently chastised. “We didn’t mean for you to hear what we said when we were tired. You should have been in bed, but we were just blowing off steam, we would never want you to change something so fundamentally you.” 

“Davey,” Killian sighed, running his hand through David’s slightly bloodied curls. “Never scare us like this ever again. Please. Promise us.” 

“I promise.” David agreed quietly. He was fighting himself from physically shrinking as all Littles did when they went into the Little headspace. 

“Good lad.” He kissed his head then looked at his wives who both nodded to him. “I think you need to spend a bit of time being Little again, bubba, don’t you? No need to fight it anymore. No matter if you’re being the best you could possibly be, or a little mischievous we’re here for you.” 

“But-”

“No, dear,” Regina gently squeezed his hand. She felt him shrink a little and she smiled at him. “It’s okay. You’re safe. The person who hurt you isn’t going to come near you ever again. I swear. You don’t need to worry about him anymore. You’re safe with me, and mommy, and daddy. We’re going to go home very soon.” 

Killian pulled the younger man into a side hug, kissing his head once again. “Listen to mama, buddy, just let yourself be Little it doesn’t matter how long you need to be it. We’re here for you. I’m sorry you overheard us that one time, but we all still love you.”

“I- I love you too.” David’s voice was still small but so was he. He had shrunk to his little height and was slowly adjusting being back in his Little headspace. “Home now?” 

“Let Mommy talk to your doctor, why don’t you decide what you want us to eat for dinner?” Snow kissed his cheek and headed out the door to talk someone into discharging him.

  
  
  


* * *

Soon David was back home, Killian carried him up the stairs to their shared room in the loft, while Regina and Snow were downstairs sorting the food out to carry upstairs. 

Killian placed him onto the edge of the big bed and went into one of the drawers in the wardrobe. He pulled out some things. “Our bed for a couple of nights, okay? Me and your mommies have been worried about you, your other Mommy is coming to see you tomorrow too, her and Lily and Jamie want to talk to you and give you lots of big cuddles.”

“Lots ‘n’ Lots of them?”

“Yup. C’mon buddy lets get you undressed and into these.” He smiled at David, for once, letting him help him. 

“I don’t need a pullup.” 

“You’re having one for a little while, Bubba, you don’t want to have to stop playing or snuggling to go to the potty, do you?” He smiled as he shook his head. “Okay, good lad, step into this for me.” 

David did as he was told, blushing at the praise Killian gave him at the littlest things. “D-Daddy?” 

Killian couldn’t describe the feeling of pride, fondness, and love whenever David called him that title he had worked hard to earn.”Yes, Sunshine?” 

‘...I don’t know where blankie and teddy are.” 

“Mommy moved them into this room, let me help you get changed then I’ll grab them for you.” He watched his Little pout but do as he was told, and Killian did his best to hide his grimaces at all of David’s injuries. Once he had dressed him in his Star Wars footie pyjamas he kissed his forehead. “You get into the middle of the bed, buddy.” 

David scooted back into his normal position, watching as Killian grabbed his teddy and blanket from the trunk before getting into bed next to him. He felt Killian’s arm wrap around him, and yet another kiss was placed on him. He hugged his teddie and blankie close. “Daddy’s all kissy.” 

Killian grinned and squeezed David gently to make him giggle. “Yeah daddy is, Daddy’s missed you being here, all of you. And we’re going to have mommy and mama, and mommy mal, and Lily, and Jamie, Uncle Liam and Auntie Belle all here tomorrow.” 

“All of us?” 

“Yep, Mommy and Mama aren’t at work, we’re all gonna play games and snuggle and make sure Davey’s all looked after and not hurting.” 

David was quiet in response. Smiling sleepily at Regina and Snow as they walked in with plates. His was passed, already cut up, to Killian. 

“You’re on feeding the baby today.” Regina bestowed as Snow tied a bib around David’s neck.

“‘M not a baby!” 

“Babies don’t wear bibs, only big boys do.” Killian lied easily. “Look, mama and mommy got you dinosaur nuggets! I know you love them, and you must be hungry. Let’s eat up, and I’ll put a movie on… Finding Nemo, no, erm,” he wasn’t about to put a movie on about a baby fish losing his family, “Princess and the Frog.” 

David fell fast asleep after only a few nuggets and a handful of fries.

“I forgot how adorable he is when he’s little.” Regina cooed. 

“I have a feeling he’ll be like this for a while. He needs it.” Snow said gently, she knew it meant not having the husband version of him, but she was okay with that, he needed this, hell they all needed this, being caregivers was part of their lives.

“Good, he’s grounded to me for a year. He’ll need to talk to Archie again. This time without lying, and he’s going to be checked up in like a week or so, but other than that he’s not going anywhere out of arm's reach.” 

“Aww protective daddy.” Regina goaded, he had no comeback to it, it was entirely true, and as true about herself and Snow.

They wouldn’t let David lie and do this ever again. They’d make sure of that.

  
  
  



End file.
